U.S crude oil, gas condensate not damaging Iran’s market share

The entrance of U.S. crude oil and gas condensate to the market will not damage Iran's share of the market, said Roknoddin Javadi, managing director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

NIOC is not seeking to sell oil at discount prices or at lower prices, Mehr news agency quoted Javadi as saying on December 25.

If the U.S. can supply the market with oil, firstly those countries which produce oil at higher prices have to limit their supplies, he noted.

He referred to the North Sea, deep seas in Mexico and Asia, and even Africa as the most vulnerable areas after entrance of U.S. oil to the market.

The US oil company Enterprise Products Partners announced on Dec. 23 it would make its first export of some 600,000 barrels of American crude oil in January, following Congress' lifting the decades-old ban on crude oil exports.

Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said in August that the country could increase its oil output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) within a week after the removal of the sanctions.

Zanganeh added that Iran's oil output could increase by above 1 million bpd within a month after all the sanctions are lifted.

"Some of the most effective sanctions [against Iran] with regards to the oil industry were those that targeted aspects such as sales, volumes, shipment, insurance and the transfer of money," he said.

"If those issues are resolved, Iran will regain the market share that it has lost which amounts to above one million barrels per day."